


Travel With Me

by afrostpatternintherain



Series: Klance Week 2016 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Best Friend!Shiro, Demons, Keith is not slow to anger, Lance hates Keith's mullet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 13:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7716517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrostpatternintherain/pseuds/afrostpatternintherain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Klance Week 2016 Day 5: Fire/ Ice</p><p>All his life Keith lived with his clan in the desert, but he had secretly been yearning for more in life.<br/>So he ran away to learn more about the world and other demons.<br/>Near the ocean he met Lance, an ice demon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Travel With Me

With every step he took a path of flames was being left behind.  
Born to the mighty clan of fire demons he didn't know any sensation that was different than the feeling of flames on his skin. His entire being was a burning flame.  
The clan was very old and sacred, for their own well-being they had decided to live in the hot desert several centuries ago. Their decision to live in the middle of a desert had been heavily influenced by the arrival of a new ice clan which had been much stronger than any water clan before them. So the fire clan avoided meddling with them for their own safety. Since the ice clan lived by the ocean the fire clan moved to the desert.  
They were never supposed to meet, enemies by default. Fire and ice simply didn't go well together. 

For 18 years now, Keith has lived in the desert with his clan. Not once did he leave or try to escape. Still, he felt like something was missing. He was an adult, yet he hadn't truly lived his life by now. A boring life spent in the desert for thousands of years just didn't seem right to him.  
Keith wanted to see the world, learn new things, meet other people than his clan's demons.  
So after months and months of arguing, he eventually decided to run away.  
Bag filled with everything he needed and loved, he was ready to go, but in front of the gates there was someone waiting for him: his best friend, Shiro.  
'So you will actually leave,' he said, his expression filled with a certain kind of sadness. The wind was swaying through his hair which he had partially bleached once as a personal sign of rebellion.  
'I need to get out of here, you know me,' Keith replied, voice serious. This was the hardest thing about going away. He had to leave his friends behind.  
Putting his hand onto Keith's shoulder, Shiro now smiled.  
'Don't do anything too stupid.'  
'Same goes for you,' he replied. They hugged and Shiro went back inside. After a few moments of silence, Keith finally left his home, looking back not even once.

5 months had passed in which he had visited cities and villages and held meaningless conversations with strangers. Many people were curious, since the fire clan usually never left their own little world.  
Keith himself wanted to learn more about other demons as well. Except for what the elders had told him he himself didn't know much about any of the other clans. There were so many of them and he was eager to learn about them.

It was his seventh month of travelling when he met a girl from the wind clan who went by the name Allura. She told him about the clan of ice, which eventually peaked his interest. Could this be the clan his own clan had fled from? Meeting an ice demon now was his newest goal.  
They were supposed to be enemies, yet Keith didn't care about the crap the elders spouted all day. Their ways of thinking were outdated and he wanted to prove them wrong so badly.  
Fire and ice were complete opposites, that was true. Still, that didn't mean they were supposed to annihilate each other.  
Searching for months, Keith eventually decided to take a break. He was almost out of money and too far away from home. A job was what he needed.  
In a village near the ocean he stayed in a shabby motel while working in a small bakery. Without realizing it, half a year had passed until Keith finally moved on again.

One and a half years after the beginning of his journey, Keith stood in front of the ocean, waves crashing together in the distance. Close to water, he felt weaker, still he enjoyed the strange feeling of water touching his naked feet in the cold sand.  
Far away he could see a small fisher's village.  
Keith turned around as he felt someone tipping him on the shoulder. As he turned around, he was suddenly hit by a fist connecting with his jaw. It hurt like hell and the scent of water penetrated his nose, an unnatural cracking sound was heard.  
'What was that for?!' He turned around, confronting the guy who had just randomly hit him.  
In front of him stood a young man around his age with eyes as blue as the deep sea.  
'What is a filthy fire demon doing on our shores?!' he growled. Every cell in his body was ready to fight. Still, Keith wouldn't be provoked.  
Raising his hands in defeat, he slowly moved closer.  
'I was looking for the likes of you, ice demon. There's no need for us to fight.' He tried his best to remain calm.  
'My ass. You're here to burn down everything in sight. The elders told me about you guys from the fire clan.'  
That was it. The one thing Keith needed to snap. This dude would be going down like a ship caught in a thunderstorm.  
'Just reminding you, I didn't start this fight.'  
'Mullet man, this is your fault and you know it damn well.'  
The water under Keith's feet was being turned to steam and flames were surrounding him; destructive and hot. If he wanted to, he could melt diamonds by now. A burning passion dwelt up inside of him.  
'Come at me, ice boy.' Even his voice now sounded deeper, more dangerous and slightly vicious. Then his horns grew rapidly, an impressive sight.  
All the ice demon did was laugh.  
'Don't try to one up me, I'll definitely win!'  
Eyes now looking as cold as ice, his gaze alone seemed to be able to pierce right through Keith. Behind his back, a wall of water rose and froze immediately. As he looked closer, he could even make out gills on the demon's skin.  
Keith knew this was going to be rough and hard. On the other hand, he hadn't expected anything less. Ice demons were rumoured to be horribly strong, equal in terms of power to the fire demons.  
The ice demon lunged forward -a movement too fast to grasp with the bare eye- , trying to scratch Keith with his claw, who had already presumed this kind of attack. Swiftly, he dodged and the ice demon stumbled, but was able to regain his balance.  
Neither of them were amateurs, they both knew too well what they were doing.  
Now Keith hit the ice demon in the side by doing a spin kick, which many fire demons used. The ice demon crashed into the ground, making water and ice splash around him. It took him a moment to regain his breath. Jumping up again,he bombarded Keith with ice spears.  
In the end, the attack turned out to be useless, since Keith was able to melt them before they could harm him in any way.  
To his surprise the ice demon lunged at him again, catching him unguarded. With a slash he tore through Keith's clothing and skin, leaving three deep claw marks shimmering with fresh blood now dripping down his chest. Keith grunted, trying not to scream in pain.  
Now this guy had to pay. Something inside of him shifted. The flames started to consume his whole mind. It was like he was in a kind of trance.  
Keith violently threw the ice demon against the nearest cliff, making the ground shake in fear.  
Striking out, his claw was ready to pierce through his enemy's chest and burn him to a crisp.  
Something shifted inside of him once again. This wasn't true. The ice demon wasn't his enemy.  
'What am I doing?' he whispered to himself. Once again he had completely lost control.  
The ice demon coughed out blood and a cold smile spread over his face.  
'At least I'll die protecting my people.' His head sacked down and his body went limp.  
Shaky breaths escaped Keith's lips, he didn't know what to do. He should've known better.  
Wanting to make a difference, he had sworn to himself over and over again he wouldn't fight the first ice demon he met. Yet here he was, looking at an unconscious ice demon.  
Then he made a decision. Swinging the ice demon's arm around his neck, he brought him to his motel.  
After laying him down on the bed, he placed his ear onto his chest, checking for a heartbeat. Luckily, the guy was still alive.  
Keith spent the entire next week nursing this stranger back to health.

On the 9th day, the ice demon finally awoke, holding his head and groaning.  
'What happened?' he asked.  
Keith sighed. 'I almost killed you.' He was definitely feeling guilty, but there was also a little voice telling him it wasn't entirely his fault.  
The guy turned around and simply stared for a good few minutes.  
'Why didn't you kill me, mullet man?' The nickname made Keith furrow his eyebrows in confusion. Was this demon trying to mock him?  
'Cause I didn't actually plan killing you. Who are you? You just slapped me out of nowhere.'  
The ice demon scoffed in an offended manner.  
'I'm Lance from the ice demon clan. I'm your rival.'  
'Why should we be rivals?' Keith questioned, confused. He didn't even know this guy.  
'Because the elders said so, duh,' Lance replied snidely.  
Keith couldn't believe it. How could one person be so stupidly loyal.  
'And you just believe them? Are you stupid?'  
Lance opened his mouth to reply, but was being shut up by Keith who placed his finger on top of his lips.  
'We don't have to fight. Just let me rest for a bit.'  
He didn't admit it, but Keith hadn't slept in a whole week.  
Demons could survive without sleep far longer than any normal human being, still Keith had been pushing himself to his limit. Collapsing on the floor, his body finally reclaimed its well deserved rest.

He woke up 4 days later, lying in his own bed with fresh bandages around his injuries.  
As he looked up, Lance was staring at him critically.  
'May, you've got a distorted way of sleeping,' he joked.  
The sheets rustled and Keith turned around to face Lance.  
'Let's not kill each other for a minute here and just talk,' Keith proposed, still feeling dizzy. Being injured and sleep deprived at the same time was apparently a really bad combination.

For the first time in his life, Lance agreed with a fire demon. They both were forces too strong, another fight would be lethal for the both of them.  
'Where are we anyway? I somehow emerged from my coma before you decided to flop onto the floor like a dead fish.'  
Still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Keith now stood up and walked over to the window.  
'We're in a motel close to the ocean,' he replied, surprised that Lance had stayed with him instead of returning to his village or murdering him in his sleep.  
Now, this would be difficult. Taking a deep breath, he turned around to Lance again.  
'Can you do me a favour?'  
Lance narrowed his eyes, taking on a defensive stance.  
'That depends on what kind of favour it is, mullet man.'  
'My name is Keith,' he mumbled, annoyed by the nickname he had gotten without having been asked first. 'I want you to travel with me.'  
Somehow, this proposal felt a bit embarrassing. Lance himself seemed to be surprised as well. Eyes wide, he stared at Keith.  
'You want me to come with you?' he asked in disbelief. His mind simply couldn't process why a fire demon would want him as company. Fire demons were supposed to be ugly, evil and malevolent, yet this one was attractive -if you kept his ugly mullet out of the picture- and didn't seem to be completely evil. Easy to anger, yes definitely, but not evil and especially not malevolent.  
Maybe the elders had been lying after all. These old people could tell much shit on a long day. For the time being, Lance decided to trust this fire demon called Keith. Even as a child, he had always wanted to explore the world. A huge grin appeared on his face.  
'I'll join you, let's go!'

Month after month passed. Before they even realized it they had spent seven whole months in each other's company.  
Meeting other demons, fighting together, life had a meaning again.  
One night, Keith was lying awake, gazing up to the dark and cloudy sky while Lance was already fast asleep.  
In his hands, he held newspapers from a few days ago. After looking at the date he had remembered Shiro's 21st birthday, which would be in three months. Past all what happened, he still felt guilty for leaving the way he did back then. Still, many things had changed. From his looks to his powers, Keith was an adult by now.  
'What are you doing?' Lance's sleepy voice startled him. 'You know I need my beauty sleep so stop the rustling already.'  
Rolling up the newspapers Keith simply used them to slap Lance's ass, who then shrieked in shock. Keith began to laugh.  
Soon, they were both on the floor, rolling on top of each other, playing like puppies.  
Eventually, Lance had enough. Pinning Keith down by sitting on top of his hips, he grinned.  
'Let's see if you're ticklish!'  
Keith's eyes widened and he tried to push Lance off.  
'Don't you even dare Lance. I am warning you, right here, right now.'  
Slightly dragging his fingers down Keith's sides, the boy tried really hard not to laugh. His face was slightly redder than usual. Then he started to tickle him,fingers quickly ghosting over soft skin. Keith struggled and gave up eventually.  
Bubbly laughter escaped his lips and single tears were rolling down his cheeks from laughing too much.  
Lance stopped and simply stared in awe. Never before had he heard him laugh this loud and carefree. There was something about Keith that made something inside of him shift. His heart beat fast and he yelped as Keith tackled him to the ground to start his counter-attack.

Another month later,they had gotten closer to the fire clan's desert. Lance knew Keith missed his home.  
'You can go back home, don't worry about me, I'll be fine,' he had once whispered while Keith was fast asleep.  
Lance knew he couldn't go with him. There was no way the fire clan was going to accept him.  
Another night in front of a small bonfire. The scent of smoke crept into his nose, reminding him of Keith, who was sitting at the opposite side of the fire. Lance walked over to him and sat down next to him. He had thought about this night for a long time now. He knew what he was supposed to do.  
'Keith,' he started, his mouth suddenly feeling utterly dry. 'We should stop travelling together.' His heart ached, screamed. This wasn't what he wanted at all. Truth was, he wanted to spend his whole life with Keith.  
Waking up next to him in the mornings, training together, they had grown closer than ever anticipated.  
He should've left when everything had started. It would've been less painful and better for the both of them.  
Keith turned around to him.  
'What are you talking about Lance?' He was shocked. Apparently he had been the only one who enjoyed their lives together.  
'If this is what you truly want,' he replied.  
'Yes.' His voice was void of emotions. Still, his heart screamed at him, told him to stop, told him to follow what he yearned for.  
An unsettling smile adorned Keith's face, a cruel mask to hide how hurt he truly was.  
The feeling of betrayal in his chest wouldn't go away. Keith could feel himself losing the grip. Something switched inside of him and this time, he lost every ounce of control he once had.  
The scent of smoke filled the air. Lance turned around to witness Keith freaking out. Flames encased him, like on the first day they had met. What just happened?  
Keith's eyes were as black as the fiery pits of hell.  
'Snap out of it, dude!' Lance shouted.  
The man in front of him wasn't Keith. It was nothing more than a shell filled with fury and rage. One last time, Lance would fight against Keith.  
A fireball was sent in his direction, but he was able to block it with a wave of water.  
'Keith, it's me, Lance! Stop it!' Another detonation of fire was aimed at him. This time, he reacted too late and could feel it burning his skin. Fighting back was his only choice, even though he had a huge disadvantage; the sand. The desert simply was no place for ice demons.  
With swift movements, he now attacked, water splashing everywhere.  
The demon in Keith's body growled, sounding like a wild animal. Each cell in his body told Lance to run and he could feel the fire burning through his skin. Still, he had to get Keith back. He needed the easy to anger, hotheaded, strong Keith he had learned to love over the course of those months spent together.  
With a scream, he lunged forward, his claw piercing right through Keith's side, making him cough up blood. At the same time, the demon had managed to burn a huge part of Lance's leg. The pain was unbearable, still the fear for Keith's life was bigger.  
'Keith!' he shouted, holding him up and supporting him.  
A shaky breath escaped his lips and his eyes went back to normal. Then he raised his head to whisper into Lance's ear before losing consciousness.  
'Don't leave me alone.'  
Lance didn't know what to do. This was all his fault, wasn't it?  
Keith needed help which Lance couldn't provide. There had to be something he could do to help him. Keith was dying. Keith was dying because of him.  
His heartbeat quickened and breathing suddenly felt wrong and too difficult.  
Then he remembered. Keith's clan was close to their current location. They could help him.  
Putting Keith's arm around his shoulder, he made his way to the fire clan. He himself might end up dying, but for his life, it would be worth it.

Hours later he finally arrived in front of the gates to the fire clan.  
Keith had lost so much blood. Would they even be able to help him in his current state?  
'Hello?!' Lance shouted, desperate. Someone had to hear him, he didn't care who.  
A young man wearing battle armor approached him.  
'Leave, ice demon. You are far from your home.'  
A grunt escaped his lips as he tried to support Keith even though he had no sensation in his left leg.  
'Please help him, he's one of yours, please.'  
The man moved closer, still ready to fight. Then he breathed in audibly.  
'Keith?!' Quickly throwing him over his shoulder, the man was ready to go. Then he stopped, looking at Lance.'Who are you?'  
' Doesn't matter.'  
Finally, he collapsed. Dehydrated and feet burnt by the hot sand, this would be his fiery grave. Everything went black.

Keith woke up with someone staring at him. His whole body hurt and moving was painful.  
As he looked up he saw Shiro leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He looked exactly the same as two years ago.  
'You're awake!'  
Keith was confused. There was a huge gap in his memories, he didn't remember what had happened or how he had gotten back home.  
Suddenly, he found himself in one of Shiro's bear hugs.  
'We were all worried. An ice demon had appeared in front of the gates, but instead of attacking, he had brought you home, pleading us to heal you even though he himself had been half-dead.'  
Lance. What had happened?  
'Where is he?' Keith asked, trying to stand up. Shiro watched every single step he took.  
'He's in the hospital,' he finally said.  
'I need to get there. Now.'  
Surprisingly, Shiro gave in without Keith needing to convince him.  
In front of room number 49 he stopped, motioning Keith to go inside.  
'Good to have you back,' he added before leaving.

Keith opened the door without knocking. Lance was fast asleep and lying on the hospital bed. Truth be told, he looked horrible. Burn marks covered his body, making Keith wonder if they had been his fault.  
Still, he couldn't remember what had happened. Absent-minded, he touched Lance's arm.  
Everything came back. The weight of his memories made him fall to the ground next to Keith's bed.  
'Is the floor really that comfortable to you?' a hoarse voice questioned jokingly. Keith almost jumped in surprise.  
'Lance! I'm sorry. You were trying to return home and I tried to stop you.' Without thinking, he took Lance's hand into his own.  
'About that. I wanted to leave so you could return to your family.' He took a deep breath and smiled. 'I never wanted to leave.'  
Keith stared at him.  
'Are you stupid?' Grabbing him by the hem of his shirt, he pulled him closer. 'Life is no fun without you. Don't leave me.'  
Lance blinked. The words were ringing in his ears. Was he actually allowed to stay by Keith's side?  
'Thank god.'  
Pulling Keith closer, he was finally able to calm down.  
They now were both on the hospital bed, hands joined. Keith's breathing calmed down and as Lance was sure that he had fallen asleep, he slowly stroked his hair.  
'I love you, mullet man,' he whispered.  
Then he felt soft finger brushing over his cheek.  
'I love you too. And my mullet is nice thank you very much.'  
Eventually, they both drifted into the soft embrace of sleep.

Shiro wanted to make sure they were both still alive, so he peered into the room. Keith and Lance were both sleeping quietly, fingers interlaced.  
With a smile on his lips, he turned around and left the hospital. It was a beautiful day, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> This one is a little late and I'm sorry for that, but I escalated once again. Actually, this oneshot was supposed to be around 1k words. Here I am once again.  
> Still, I hope you enjoyed my work and will leave a comment! ~Glen


End file.
